Following the global pandemic and subsequent closure of gyms, we’ve seen a soar in popularity for online workouts as businesses and self-employed fitness instructors go remote. According to the World Economic Forum, fitness app downloads grew by nearly 50% during the first half of 2020, and there are no signs of slowing.
However, with spring approaching and outdoor workouts back in the mix, how can tech still be of value? And how can you meet your clients in the middle?
Whether you are a gym owner or fitness instructor, here’s our how-to on using tech to grow your fitness business.
Flexible Training
Getting outdoors is a brilliant way to train, but the benefit of technology is the ability to train anytime, anywhere- making your business accessible to clients 24/7.
Not only can utilizing tech create a new stream of revenue, but it also allows you to add value to your services. Offering both pre-recorded and live workouts lets you connect digitally with members and create an online community, which helps increase motivation and engagement.
Members can also complete these workouts outside in the warmer months, bringing both the outdoors and online forum together in one place. Outdoor fitness has become popular with many businesses.
One gym utilizing the online platform is Anytime Fitness , which offers tailored plans and regular check-ins for members. They also provide their clients with nutritional advice, recipes, well-being tips, and on-demand workouts.
Members not only benefit from in-person training when the gyms are open but they also have a range of available add-on services needed regardless of whether their gym is open or closed.
Add a Gym Management Software to the Mix
Adding gym management software to the mix to bring all your fitness and well-being needs together can be a one-stop easy way to attract and retain clients.
One humble gym increasing its membership engagement and revenue is The Training Club. They’ve given members access to PRO+ , Virtuagym’s personalized digital membership app.
The software combines online training with challenges, wellness tips, and meditation to deliver a complete-package experience to members – all powered and managed by Virtuagym.
Read more: Five Clients Share How Virtuagym Software Helped During the Pandemic
If you already have your packages in place, software apps can also be a fantastic upselling tool for more varied and flexible training, in addition to in-facility exercises.
Read how one of our clients, San Diego-based Pacific Beach Training, digitized their neighborhood gym during the pandemic in order to take back control and add value for their members.
Increase the Value of Your Subscription
Going the extra mile and bringing something different into your offering can help you to tap into a more niche market and diversify. Nutrition tracking, for example, is a great way to add value to memberships.
Offering nutrition tracking and advice to your clients makes them feel that they’re getting more bang for their buck, which can ultimately help grow your business!
However, customizing nutrition plans for clients can be time-consuming, especially for personal trainers. Virtuagym nutrition coaching software allows for bespoke customization of meal plans for clients within the software itself, derived from an existing in-app database.
The software also lets you have your own branded app in which you can share diet plans directly with your clients or allow them to personalize plans themselves, according to their goals.
The Virtuagym nutrition software for gyms allows you to add food diaries, recipes, and ingredients, which completely tailors the experience.
Creating a Community Hub
We all know the benefits of exercising, but it can be hard to quantify the emotional and social benefits derived from making connections with fellow gym-goers. Such interactions help us stay motivated to exercise and keep us looking forward to going to the gym.
So, how can building a community increase member motivation and help grow your business?
Creating a community hub for your members can be a great way to increase engagement and socialization – a key motivator for people to exercise. Firstly, consider offering community access as premium content to your existing packages; this not only adds value but can diversify your revenue stream.
Ensure you regularly update your content and consider Q&A’s, organizing guest talks, and sharing conversation-starters to get people chatting and connecting.
Setting up a YouTube or Instagram account a great way to livestream or load pre-recorded workouts. By housing your content in one place, you can cross-post to your other social media channels.
Encouraging people to share, download, and comment on your videos can increase engagement and get people talking!
Going One-to-One
Whether you own a gym or are a self-employed personal trainer, offering digital one-to-one sessions, as well as small group sessions, is the way to go.
While this might seem obvious, organizing one-to-one programs is a time-consuming task, which is what hinders most gym owners from doing it.
Employing a more personalized approach to remote training can help you build a premium training package for your clients and encourage new business.
One-to-one training increases connection with both new-to-exercise members (who may require more attention) and clients who are looking to up-the-ante on their existing training. There’s something for everyone to gain when it comes to personalized, one-to-one training!
As we know, personal training sessions involve consultation and deep-dive analysis into goals and current fitness abilities – all eyes are on the client.
By offering a unique and personal experience, clients are more likely to hit their goals and see the added value of one-to-one training. Remote client coaching allows you to still regularly check-in with your clients, share tips, receive and send videos, monitor progress, and adapt programming – regardless of geography.
This lull in the fitness industry is an opportune moment to utilize software by inputting your clients’ programs and providing them with comprehensive nutrition plans they can receive and customize online.
Move it Outdoors
For very good reasons, people are still a little wary of the idea of returning to the gym, so why not take it outside? Offering socially distanced outdoor training helps people to feel safer and springtime is perfect timing for taking things outside!
This approach builds community and gets people back outdoors while keeping your business operating.
According to research conducted by RunRepeat , outdoor training is set to become a 2021 trend, so it’s a great time to build these sessions into your packages.
You can then film and share these sessions online to help build your brand.
All set? Next, learn how to promote your classes and workouts .
